DuckSouth.com

Dog shooting a mystery

JEREMIAH STETTLER
THE SAGINAW NEWS

Michele Wietfeldt can't escape the image of her son's black Labrador, Maddy, choking and bleeding with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The Fremont Township resident remembers her son screaming, then sobbing as he wrapped his T-shirt around the dog to stop the bleeding.

An unknown shooter killed the family's year-old pet Friday while her son, Collin, 13, greased his bicycle chain in front of the family's home.

The teen, who received the dog as a birthday gift last year, heard the shot and watched Maddy collapse in a field across the road.

"He was horrified and screamed 'Someone shot my dog! Someone shot my dog!' " recounted Wietfeldt, 42. "I yelled at him not to go, but he tore out of there on his bike."

Maddy was alive when Collin arrived, but she was bleeding heavily from her mouth and chest and struggling to breathe. The family tried to save her, driving her to the Village Veterinarian Clinic in Hemlock for treatment, but Maddy died an hour later.

A. Michael Manzoni, a veterinarian at the clinic, sees three or four cases of dog shootings every year. This was the worst, he said.

He said the placement of the bullet -- through the chest and into the spine -- leads him to believe the dog was killed deliberately and not as the object of whimsical hunting-related target practice.

"This guy knew what he was doing," Manzoni said. "He wasn't take just taking pot shots."

Manzoni couldn't say what weapon was used, but said it was a rifle rather than shotgun. He believes the shooter hit the animal twice.

Saginaw County sheriff's deputies responded to the incident, but were unable to locate the shooter.

Wietfeldt's family buried the dog in the back yard near a sandbox where Maddy would lie during hot summer days. A pile of beach stones, collected from Au Gres for a rock garden, stands as a monument.

Collin placed the wing of his first duck, shot last fall, in the grave. He had trained Maddy to begin duck hunting this year.

But that hasn't erased the hurt. Nor has it eased Wietfeldt's mind.

"It's scary to think that somebody could be sitting out there with a rifle shooting at innocent animals," she said.

About all I can say is let out the hounds and get a short rope from a tall tree. That is inexcusable.

Ugh man is that awful, really really sad to loose a dog to natural causes. To have one murdered, that makes you sick!

well my dog can't shoot back, but i sure can. that is pathetic

WISH I WAS THERE WITH MY 17 HE WOULDN'T BE LAUGHING AFTER THAT I PROMISE

There are idiots everywhere in this old world today.

Sorry to hear this but if that son would like to have another black lab, I would be happy to find him a nice pup,Tommy

bottom line is SOMEONE NEEDS A GOOD OLE FASHION BEHIND THE WOOD SHED WHOOPIN

few years ago, a neighbor leased his land to some guys out of greenwood to deer hunt on...shortly after the guys started coming out and scouting someone overheard them boasting about 'taking care of some wild dogs'..well, thjose wild dogs they were taking care of were peoples pets..one of the reason I moved to the country was to get my dogs out of a pen in the back yard..anyway, something was said to the landowner anout his new leasees and he said he'd have a talk with them....about a month later my father in law had his 2 birddogs out running...his property joins the guys leasing the land...it's muzzleloader season so father in law is thinking maybe fewer hunters out and goes quail hunting....he hadn't hunted 30 minutes and he hears a shot, then 2 more, then 3 more....and about that time his birddog comes running out of the woods yelping....he's also dragging his front leg..when he finally gets to the dog he notices the front leg is hanging on by threads of muscle/skin...he grabs him and ruhsed off the the vet.....he saved his dog, but he lost the leg..Bud was one of the best 3 legged birddogs you'd ever seen.....well, after the shock wore off we did some investigating...seems a fellow from greenwood just happened to be muzzleloading that afternoon, AND he had a reputation of carrying a pistol in the woods with him while hunting(which is illegal during muzzleloading season)..anyway, the landowner remembered his truck and he finally admitted to shooting the dog..BUT, get this, he said the thought it was a coyote...I wish I had a pic of bud on this computer to show you, but i'd guess he was 90% white with a few tan ticks.....the guys last name was WHITE..can't remember first...................
(ps..not everyone from greenwood shoots dogs)

after father in law got his information straight, he filed a complaint and the carrollo county sheriffs dept finally go and arrest Mr White....THEN he files a complaint saying father in law was trespassing(which he wasn't) and the CCSD come to arrest him!..but he tells them the story and they don't..in the end they sued Mr White and got around 3 to 4 thousand out of him....made one helluva dog pen..bout 1 acre enclosed and some nice houses

and for what it's worth, I'd be willin to chip in if someone can find a way to get that kid another dog..

speechless

I agree with DUCK_NUTT....willing to help.........but then again the kid wil be expecting the pup to be like his old dog.....so whats the answer?

D1 wrote:bottom line is SOMEONE NEEDS A GOOD OLE FASHION BEHIND THE WOOD SHED WHOOPIN

sorry but that's not quite good enough. somebody kill my dog and i would equate that to killing a family member and would respond in kind.

al